Remember my New Year’s Resolution to get caught up on Jericho before the winter premiere?
Thanks to the awesome people at CBS, I’ve gone one step further. Not only did I watch the first 11 hours saved on my TiVo. I had the pleasure of watching Wednesday’s winter premiere and it’s official – I’m addicted to Jericho!!
For those of you who were in my boat, having missed the whole fall season (but you haven’t yet caught up), I wanted to get you all ready for Wednesday’s big premiere.
With that, here’s a little “Who’s who?” of the people that make Jericho what it is (I put together a little chart with who is connected to whom, and how; do yourself a favor and click here to print it out!)
When we first entered the town of Jericho, Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich…swoon) had been away from home for five years. No one knows where he’s been. He won’t tell anyone what he’s been doing. He’s been out of touch with friends, with family, etc. He returns to town on the day of the explosion to pick up his inheritance.
Jake is a member of one of the town’s most respected families. His dad is the now former Mayor Johnston Green. Johnston has suffered a debilitating flu, and sepsis, only to recover in time to be defeated in Jericho’s late election to the nefarious Gray Anderson (more on him later). Jake’s mom Gail Green is a beacon of strength to her family and the whole town. She offers support to everyone, and there’s no one who doesn’t want her as their mother!
The other son, Eric Green, is dad’s Deputy Mayor. He strives to be the perfect son. Outwardly, he is (though I think that Gail and Johnston, deep down, believe Jake is a son worthy of more pride). Jake’s return has both pulled the brothers closer together, but has in ways pitted them against each other. By Episode 11, Eric has become estranged from his pregnant wife, Dr. April Green, and is currently cohabitating with his mistress girlfriend Mary Bailey (owner of Bailey’s bar, where people hang out to relieve some stress). Because of the affair that Eric had, Gail is not to happy with her once-favorite son.
With Jake back in town 2 months, he’s already juggling two women – ex-love Emily Sullivan and new friend (Emily’s best friend and would-be-maid-of-honor) Heather Lisinski. He is, as if the world ending wasn’t enough, torn between two lovely ladies.
Jake and Heather met on the day of the attack when he found her missing school bus and helped her and her students get safely back to Jericho. She’s outspoken, not afraid to say what she thinks. When Jake and Eric took off for other parts of Kansas to find medication for Johnston, Heather surprised Jake with a farewell-come-back kiss. Their relationship was up in the air when the Fall Season ended.
Emily and Jake have a long history, having dated in middle and high school. Now, Emily is engaged to Roger Hammond. Thought dead when his plane from Chicago disappeared during the blasts, he resurfaced, scruffy and having walked for days, mere seconds before Jake and Emily’s lips got reunited at Bailey’s.
She has been estranged from her own father Jonah Prowse, an estrangement that stems from the death of her little brother Chris (in which both her dad and Jake had a hand). By episode 11, Jonah had wreaked havoc on the town, stolen food, horses, and a generator, pissed his commune off enough to have them frame him for murder and been run out of Jericho “for good” (Jonah’s number two man, Mitchell Cafferty was the actual murderer, killing shop owner Gracie Leigh over a broken trade deal).
Gracie Leigh was the owner of the local grocery store in town. She looked after Dale Turner when we found out that his mom had perished in a similar blast in Atlanta. Dale inherited the store when Gracie was murdered. In retribution for the death of Gracie, Dale stabbed Mitchell.
Dale is harboring a crush on Skylar Stevens who, with typical-snobby-bitch best friend Lisa Whalley, treated him like crap. The day of the fallout, they (Skylar and Dale) bonded over their new status as orphans. By episode 11, she has alienated her friends, Lisa and Sean Henthorn in order to let Dale into her home, and, as cheesy as it sounds, her heart. Sean was last seen getting into the truck of Bonnie Richmond for, what one assumes, is a little after hours nookie!
Bonnie Richmond is the deaf sister of Stanley Richmond. Together, they run the Richmond farm. They owe the IRS over $180,000 in back taxes. Mimi Clark was in town on the day of the blast (from Washington, D.C.) to collect. After not having somewhere to stay, and being taken in by the Richmond family, Mimi and Stanley have started to fall for each other. Stanley affectionately refers to them as St-imi (the tabloid name for the Stanley/Mimi coupling). They are actually my new favorite couple on the show. I think they’re charming.
Stanley and Jake have been training batches of people in town to be on the lookout for any after-bomb fighting / looting / issues that Jericho might face. As well as the fighters they’ve been training, Jericho has something of a police force, with Deputy Bill (a staunch Gray Anderson supporter) and Deputy Jimmy (a staunch Mayor Green supporter) at the forefront. Gray, the newly elected mayor, was one of the people who ventured out of town to see what was happening in other areas of Kansas. We haven’t learned very much, other than the fact that Gray saw stuff no one should ever have to see, but I’m sure we’ll learn more as we go.
New to town, and acting as a deputy, the enigmatic Robert Hawkins arrived with a tin canister in a giant white moving truck. He claimed to have been a cop in St. Louis before moving to Jericho. Along with him for the move (and his insane ability to get a laptop signal when the town is completely shut down) are his children Samuel Hawkins and Allison Hawkins. Robert’s formerly estranged wife Darcy Hawkins is there too, extremely suspicious of Robert’s every move.
A few other names worth remembering –
Kendry Duwhalia is a doctor that Jake and Eric encountered on their trip to a neighboring town Rogue River. He came back to Jericho with them (and with Levaquin in tow) to cure Johnston while he lay dying of sepsis. He’s stuck around, and most recently was seen helping Jonah when he was suffering from a gash on his arm after his confrontation with Mitchell.
The only enemies we’ve really seen (besides whoever is dropping the bombs) is the rogue “military” faction Ravenwood, mercenaries who are pillaging towns across the US. I’m absolutely positive we’ll see lots more about them in the coming months.
So now that you know everything you need to know about the people of Jericho – here are a few reasons you should watch the Winter Premiere on Wednesday at 8.
1. I know what Jake’s been up to, at least in the week leading up to the crime. While I can’t really say what he’s been doing the entire 5 years he was away, we get an idea why he needed that inheritance money so badly!
2. Robert Hawkins and his “why on earth does he know everything and how did he end up in Jericho” story gets better and better each minute he’s on screen. We learn that he had a little bit of a girlfriend back in D.C. before moving to Jericho, and it’s absolutely worth it to get caught up in his story of “the 36 hours before the blast”. Plus, I know what’s in that canister in the truck, and it just makes me insane!
3. Everyone loves a good love quadrangle. With Roger back and Heather in the picture, Emily and Jake have some decisions to make!
4. If the storyline isn’t pulling you in (it should be, because it really is intriguing….what would you do if your world was coming to an end?), let Major Dad (Gerald McRaney, playing Johnston Green), Kelly from Coach (Clare Cramer, playing Mary Bailey), and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s partner in Kindergarten Cop (Pamela Reed, playing Gail Green) pull you in. You cannot go wrong with a veritable who’s who of early 90s entertainment!!
5. They’re actually answering some of the questions that they’ve raised. We learn a bit about Jake’s past, we learn some more about Robert’s past. We see how St-imi began; we learn a lot more than it seems we’ve learned in 2.5 years of Lost.
6. It is REALLY good. It kept me entertained, wanting more. Now that I’ve gotten caught up, I cannot wait until next week’s brand new episode!
7. If you didn’t think that last week’s “episode” was informational enough, tune into this week’s premiere, because it definitely explains what’s happening to the town.
Do yourself a favor – catch up on old episodes of Jericho on iTunes and on CBS.com. You will not regret it, I promise!! As always, find me at mytakeontv@thetvaddict.com!
Let me know what you think when you start getting all caught up! 
